Anesthetic care of pediatric surgical patients

ABSTRACT

Some technical aspects of intraoperative anesthetic care of pediatric surgical patients are discussed. Recent concepts of premedicant, anesthetic and muscle relaxant drugs as related to the pediatric patient are presented. Endotracheal intubation is an integral part of the pediatric anesthetic management. Adequacy of fluid and blood replacement is emphasized. Most current pediatric anesthetic systems incorporate the "T piece" principle. Maintenance of a near normal PaCo2 could be accomplished by allowing partial rebreathing during controlled ventilation. Current status of three useful techniques is presented deliberate hypotension, hemodilution, and the rapid induction-intubation technique for children with a full stomach. Anesthetic considerations of special problems, such as neurosurgery or cardiac surgery and monitoring, are not discussed